Dame Judi Dench portrait

From costume drama matriarch to MI6 boss M in four Bond films, Dame Judi Dench
has long been regarded as British theatre royalty.

Photo: BBC

9:39AM BST 26 Jun 2008

The Yorkshire-born actress was nominated for six Academy Awards, and won her Oscar for her performance as Elizabeth I in the film Shakespeare in Love.

Dame Judi has typically played strong-willed, female characters, though her latest plaudits come for her portrayal of the sensitive Miss Matty in the BBC adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford.

Born in 1934, she came from a theatrical family, which inspired her training at the Central School of Speech Training and Drama Art. She was quickly noticed by the Royal Shakespeare Company, who cast her to play Lady Macbeth opposite Ian McKellen. Dench went on to win a record six Laurence Olivier Awards for her work in theatre.

Known for her good humour and tremendous acting ambition, she once said: “I think you should take your job seriously, but not yourself – that is the best combination.”

She married fellow actor Michael Williams in 1971, going on to star with him in the BBC series A Fine Romance. Throughout her 40-year career, Dame Judi has taken on challenging film roles as Alzheimer sufferer Iris Murdoch in Iris, Lady Catherine De Bourgh in Pride and Prejudice and Queen Victoria in Mrs Brown.

Since her husband’s death in 2001, the 73-year-old actress has lived in Surrey with her daughter, the actress Finty Williams, and her grandson, Sam.